u/MeddlingBureaucracy

I recently got a bunch of 100g samples from Polish vendor Don Sorbero, who kindly shipped to me even though i'm not based in Europe. Thanks Pawel!

I wanted to leave a little review of each sample here, which the hopes that it might be helpful to some of you who aren't easily able to try a bunch of yerbas like this and don't want to go in blind on 500g of something without a review. Hopefully you can see if we have similar tastes and make some judgement from that.

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LA MERCED DE MONTE - nutty, woody, salted peanut aroma. Very balanced, nice flavor. Good combination of bitter and sweet. Earthy, woody notes, pleasant bitterness. Just all around really nice and arguably one of the best I’ve had. Dried by traditional methods and let to age/settle for typically at least a year. “Monte” here means it’s from the rainforest region (fertile soil, abundant rains and high temperatures) and I find it head and shoulders above De Campo (which is still a very nice yerba). 9/10

ANNA PARK - smells like wood and vanilla, very sweet, almost candy like. Taste is smooth, very little bitterness, not even the pleasant kind. Incredibly smooth and easy drinking. An almost cherry tobacco sort of note to the aroma. Some grassiness but not in an overly strong or forward way like in the Porongo. More of a light hay note than a green grass. The nuttiness that you generally get with La Merced or more traditionally prepared Argentine Yerbas is traded in here for a more vanilla forward, creamy sort of taste. I tried to let it steep a bit long just to get a sense where it goes when pushed a bit, and it’s still very drinkable. Passes the “mom” test (If I needed to get my mom to like Yerba mate, I’d probably start her on this one.) 8/10

ZAPECA - The dry Yerba has this woody, almost saw-dust note to it. Packs a punch, very full of flavor and not weak at all. I was originally wondering if I’d find it to be too green but nope, it’s quite good. A very solid Yerba and one I’d definitely put in my regular rotation along with Anna park and La Merced. 7/10

PORONGO - Somewhat creamy aroma and also a little pleasantly bitter. Air-dried Yerba like this can sometimes be too herbaceous and almost a bit too “grassy” for my taste, but in this particular case it’s not really off-putting. Strikes me as quite a clean Yerba, and very pleasant to drink. Tastes better at 70c than 60c. The first time I made it I used 60c water and it was a bit too weak for me, but the second time it was very nice. 7/10

KRAUS SILVESTRE - Obviously the anomaly here as it’s the only one that isn’t pure Yerba. That being said, it’s pretty delicious. The combination leads to a pretty grassy and herbaceous taste being rather dominant, yet the mint allows for the overall flavor to seem balanced and interesting enough to keep my attention. The lemon verbena is definitely a noticeable element, and not a lot of people even know that Silvestre has lemon verbena. It’s not really heavy enough on the mate flavor to make it a favorite of mine, but it’s very inoffensive and I think it would kick ass as a summer tereré. 7/10

LA MERCED BARBACUA - really nice aroma on the montañita. Taste is, of course, somewhat smoky. Pretty acceptable for me, not as smoky as I was expecting. It works well around 60c or a bit hotter, but 70c even felt like it brought out the less desirable elements of the flavor for me. I fully understand why Paraguay, home of all the smokiest Yerbas, tends to drink Tereré. This would be fantastic over ice, but as a hot mate (what I drink 95% of the time even in a tropical country) this isn’t anywhere near as nice as La Merced’s De Monte. 6/10

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Lastly, if there are any yerbas you think i'd like based on my reviews above, please do recommend me some! I would love to try out some new brands. In addition to these I've tried and enjoyed Baldo, La Merced's De Campo, and the OG Guayaki from back in the day.

🧉🧉🧉